PHOTO: The Star/Asia News Network

Vivian Lee May Ling, 27, Tan's former girlfriend, said Tan thought the posting was hilarious or saw it as a joke.

Lee said they had a big fight and argued about the posting.

"I tried to grab the laptop but he pushed me away and I could not get hold of the device," Lee said to a question from her counsel Chong Joo Tian who asked why Tan had uploaded the posting.

Questioned by Chong on what happened after the quarrel, Lee, now a customer relations officer at a private company, said she "got tired and did not know what to do as it was useless persuading him."

"We ended up doing own things," she said.

To another question whether Tan, 28, had asked her permission to upload the posting in their joint Facebook account, Lee replied, "No, he did not. He showed me after he uploaded the posting".

Lee said Tan removed the posting in the late afternoon or evening on July 12 after they received negative and angry comments from the public, adding that an apology in the form of a video was uploaded on the YouTube the same day.

Cross-examined by Deputy Public Prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin whether she thought the posting was hilarious, Lee replied, "No it is not. I think it is offensive".

Lee said she did not have the chance to go to a cybercafe to access her own Facebook account to inform the public that she was not "connected" to Tan and that she was innocent because Tan was with her all the time.

On re-examination by Chong, Lee said Tan's possessive attitude made her reluctant to go to a cybercafe.

Lee was giving her testimony in her defence trial. She faces a charge of uploading content that could possibly stir hostility among those with different beliefs between July 11 and 12, 2013.

She also faces a charge of publishing a seditious photograph and inviting Muslims to break fast with bak kut teh together with a halal logo.

She was accused under Subsection 5(1) of the Film Censorship Act, Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act respectively.

However, the third charge under Section 298A(1) of the Penal Code was later dropped by the Court of Appeal on grounds that it did not apply to non-Muslims.